


A Pillow to the Heart

by dasfreefree, imagine_that_haikyuu



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: F/M, Female!Reader - Freeform, Fluff, Pillow Fights, Reader-Insert
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-09
Updated: 2020-06-09
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:46:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24628762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dasfreefree/pseuds/dasfreefree, https://archiveofourown.org/users/imagine_that_haikyuu/pseuds/imagine_that_haikyuu
Summary: It takes a pillow fight for Tanaka to realize that he's in love with you.
Relationships: Tanaka Ryuunosuke/Reader
Comments: 4
Kudos: 96





	A Pillow to the Heart

**Author's Note:**

> This scenario was originally posted on November 6, 2016 to our [tumblr](https://imagine-that-haikyuu.tumblr.com/post/152831462163/can-i-get-a-scenario-where-tanaka-and-his). Some edits have been made since then.
> 
> Writer: Rachel Lauren
> 
> Anonymous asked: Can I get a scenario where Tanaka and his girlfriend are hanging out and start a pillow fight which turns into a tickle fight and his girlfriend is extremely ticklish and falls on the floor from laughing so hard and he's laughing with her until he looks down at her and suddenly realizes "Holy shit... I'm so in love with her"

“And then they thought that Kageyama was going to toss to Hinata but there I was on the left—”

_Whap_.

Tanaka blinked after the impact against his face. It’s not that it was forceful—it was only a pillow that _you_ had swung, after all—but he certainly was not expecting his face to be met with the lavender cotton of your pillowcase while he recounted one of his favorite matches to you. It had been a clutch victory too, with him scoring the final point to put Karasuno on top.

“Got you!” you cheered, sticking your tongue out for good measure. You stood on your knees victoriously next to him atop your bed. With one hand, you swung the pillow around by your hip with a circular motion to your wrist. “You should have seen it coming, Ryuu. You know I’ve heard that story so many times already.”

He scowled for a moment, but his face gave way to a more sinister smile with the prospect of the next move he would make. Tanaka maneuvered himself passed you, reaching for another pillow waiting at the head of your mattress. Preparing yourself for battle, you hopped off your bed and held the pillow before you like a shield.

“If you think I’m going to let you win this, you’ve got another thing coming, (F/N)!” he called also jumping off the bed and retreating to the other side of your room.

“Bring it!” you taunted.

The two of you circled around the rug on your floor, making feint advances towards each other like fencers trying to psych out their opponent. It was only a matter of who would strike first. Tanaka let out a yell akin to a battle cry and lunged forward. With a shriek, you whipped your pillow at his face again, letting it fly into the air. He flinched but it missed his head by a good margin. You let out a curse under your breath as you scrambled to the floor: if he picked up your pillow before you did, it would be a guaranteed victory for him!

Desperately reaching for the pillow before you, your fingers grazed its lavender covering. It shifted closer to you and with another curl of your fingers it was firmly in your grasp again. You sat up just as Tanaka hurled his pillow in your direction, and you warded the projectile off with a push against your reacquired shield.

“Rejected,” you cried. Tanaka dove to the floor with total control to retrieve his pillow before you could make your next move. Totally unfair, you thought, given that diving drills were common place at his volleyball practices. You laughed at the thought of yourself ungracefully flopping to the carpet if you attempted the same.

He rolled over to the corner you were still seated in. As he approached, you scooted away from the wall, but found yourself caged in by your bed and his body; he had managed to roll over to you quicker than you were able to back away.

“There’s nowhere to run now,” he said, rising to his knees. You knew that every option you had left was futile, but that didn’t stop you. You shoved your pillow towards him, perhaps misjudging the space there was between you. As if everything was in slow motion, it slipped from your grip and Tanaka held out a free hand to catch it.

“No!” you shrieked as he laughed. You brought your arms to your face, fixing yourself for the onslaught of pillow thwacks that were about to come your way. Peering through the space between your arms, you watched as Tanaka tossed them above your head, landing on your mattress with a nearly inaudible thud. “Ryuu, what are you doing?”

“Consider yourself having forfeited. Now the loser faces punishment,” he said, getting down on all fours and crawling towards you. You lowered your arms from your face to show your confusion, only to be met with his signature playful smile. Once he was close enough, he sat down on the floor, wrapping his arms around your waist and pulling him closer to you.

Tanaka’s fingers grazed the skin just between your tank top and your jeans. At his touch, your face flushed. You weren’t expecting _this_ kind of punishment. Or maybe you had jumped to conclusions. His fingers started rapidly rubbing in a spider-like motion against your skin and you let out a noise somewhere between a yelp and a laugh.

“Wait, Ryuu—ha! No! Haha!”

You tried to squirm from his clutches as his fingers continued upward on your torso. Even with the fabric of your shirt between your skin and his hands, you were still sensitive to his touch. You wiggled ungracefully, weak from laughing at his every move, falling back onto the floor as he continued to tickle your sides.

“How do you like me now?” he cackled.

You thrashed about in a tantrum, squealing his name like a child and begging him to knock it off in between your giggles.

The only reason Tanaka stopped was to let you catch your breath for a moment. He would resume tickling you once he was sure that you could let your guard down again, when you least expected it. He stared down at your face which was slightly reddened. Even though your chest rose and fell as you tried to resume normal breathing, you were grinning widely, enough that your eyes were almost closed. He felt something tug at his heart, and his lips, which had been pulled upwards in a smile up until now, returned into resting position. His eyes widened gradually.

Holy shit… I’m so in love with her, he thought.

He froze in place with this thought on his mind. While he hovered just above you, you finally caught your breath and cleared your throat. Sitting up, you pressed a finger to his forehead, snapping him from his stupor.

“That’s a different face from your usual ones. Far from intimidating, it’s actually very cute. I give it an eight out of ten,” you commented, smiling at him again. Tanaka felt the same feeling in his chest again. He relaxed his body, resting with his legs tucked underneath him.

So this is what is was like to be in love? This whole time, he’d assumed it would be something more similar to what he had seen in movies or on TV. Usually it was something romantic and dramatic, with the lovers throwing their arms around each other before a passionate kiss. Even then, he’d known that it probably would never have happened that way for normal people. 

Admittedly, he liked how it came to him this way a lot better.

“Hm, it looks like you’ve got something on your mind,” you said. You took his cheeks in between your fingers and gave them a gentle tug. He placed his hands over yours and held them against his face.

“I love you.”

You blinked. After a pause, the reddish color returned your cheeks and you squeaked out a, “Wait, really?!” with wide eyes.

Thankfully, Tanaka had the luxury of both yours and his hands covering his face; he was sure that he was flushed a darker shade of red than you. You did feel the heat rise in his face under your touch.

“Um, yeah…” he answered. “Yeah, I really do.”

With a gentle nudge of your hands against his, he returned his arms to his sides. You still cupped his face, pulling his lips against yours. The kiss was soft and sweet as it usually had been between you two, but something about it felt so much more significant than the other times, aside from the first time of course. He rested his hands on your waist as you pulled away from his lips. You dropped your hands from his cheeks to his shoulders, placing your forehead against his.

“I love you too.”


End file.
